IT is amazing how a shrivelled conscience can allow people inflict so much pain on others and extinguish human solidarity planted in the DNA of all humans. I am reminded of this each time I think of local government administration in many parts of Nigeria. Since the 1976 reforms and constitutional reviews that brought local governments to the sharing table of revenue transfers, this matter has been a source of much discomfort. I recently saw an official account of a local government in Delta State North and could not hold back tears. I could even more appreciate former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for her publishing records of allocation and her hard work on a social responsibility law.
The more excruciating of the blows from this statement of account was that I could see very vividly the misery index etched deep into the faces of the people of those rural communities and the deprivation tattooed on their bodies as I read through a monthly spend of nearly 16 million Naira for entertainment by the Chairman of the local government. Irked by the information that the said local government had received up to N1.4 billion naira with nothing to show for it but the misery of those people whose lives were supposed to be improved by such revenue flows, I lamented, loudly such despicable conduct by people who act so brazenly in the abuse of public trust.
My anger was, however, to go up a few notches when someone listening to the same information regretted that it was same story all over the country and it was therefore pointless to feel so bad. There must be a time to draw a line in the sand and say, no more, never again, I retorted. The trouble with Nigeria is that those who despoil the Common Good expect us all to just shrug and move on, unwillingly setting our country up for a destructive uprising when the chicks come home to roost.
This tragedy of the Nigerian condition, giving up on the possibilities that change can happen, and that people can be held to account some day must receive a push back if we are not to move more quickly from the road to Liberia, to a highway to Somalia. People are already so cynical about government in Nigeria that it is eroding legitimacy of public institutions and making the cost of governance high and possibilities of goal attainment more challenging. We must now draw a line in the sand. Local governments are an appropriate place to start.
Leafing through the statement of accounts of that Delta North Local Government, what I saw recently made me wonder why a few local government chairmen were not in jail. Could we continue to take seriously the institutions of horizontal accountability like the EFCC, ICPC, etc if such egregious violations of norms of public trust in service delivery are considered the normal fare Nigeria writ large. If the institutions of horizontal accountability fail us so, as one local government chairman in trouble in Delta was known to have a history of bragging that he had EFCC officials in his pocket, what about the vertical accountability.
Those suffer badly from the fact that elections, the until instrument of vertical accountability, have not taken place in Nigeria for a long time. But there are other instruments and methods of vertical public accountability. In earlier times, the Youth of a Village, the Priest/Native Doctor, and the local Sanhedrin – the court of elders in our villages, provided a check on those who were given responsibility and exercise power for the good of society. Where are the youth of the Aniocha local government in policing of the conduct of officials today. Ditto for the prayer warriors, Imams, Priests and the other religious leaders in the community. Checks and balances predate Jean-Jacque, Rousseau, the French, philosopher and the American constitution. When the Oyomesi sent a calabash to the Alaafin, a demand for his head, abdication was intended. A system of checks and balances was being implemented. We cannot go on as a society where no one speaks truth to power. This is why we live in dung heap of decay, yet many people carry on as if all is normal.
Moved to always strive to walk my talk I have struggled to put my money just about on everything I let my mouth walk into. Local government administration has been one such area. After speaking so frequently about effectiveness in local governments which are the closest arms of government to the people, I decided you do something with what little gifting was available to me, in this area. I designed a workshop on how local governments can stimulate economic growth. Pulling in know-how from veterans like Prof. Akin Mabogunje and the Monitor Company, perhaps the foremost competitiveness company in the world, I expected hugely warm reception.
From Prof. Mabogunje came wise counsel instructed by experience. It was certainty that local government officials will not bother to attend. He suggested that leaders of Town Union Associations would be more likely to utilise the knowledge for good. Having invested considerably in local and foreign speakers we provided scholarships to both local governments and Town Unions Presidents. Had Prof. Mabogunje not been so wise he would have addressed an empty hall. Hardly any local governments showed up and there was no Local Government Chairman in sight, contacts with ALGON, and directly, notwithstanding.
In my view the failure of Local Government administration must be desperately addressed with a combination of approaches. These should be a carrot and stick, plus institution building packages. EFCC must ensure that quite a few are docked for this brazen rape of a much-abused people; stakeholders should become more active and aggressive, seeking regular town Hall Meetings for accountability from the budget stage to Annual Performance reviews. We should also celebrate those chairmen of character and service who perform outstandingly well.
What must be the imperative of now is that we draw a line in the sand and say local government must either work for the people or get ready to be extinct.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Political Economist and Entrepreneur, Prof. Utomi was candidate for President in 2007
